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	New Community Services District Law
	by Elliot Mulberg
	Beginning January 1 the new Community Services District (CSD) law goes into effect. It replaces a law that is nearly 50 years old, created at a time when population centers were smaller and municipal services were needed in newly developing areas.
	The new law SB 135 was the result of a 10 month process that began with a working group of interested and knowledgeable stakeholders convened by the Senate Local Government Committee. The goal of the working group was to review and revise the law as a consensus bill. That means a bill with no opposition.
	Stakeholders included representatives of the California Special District Association, the League of Cities, the California State Association of Counties (CSAC) and representatives from several CSD's. I had the opportunity to serve as an advisor. That allowed me to participate in the discussion.
	The process was rather lengthy and somewhat tedious. The working group started by reviewing all 300 sections of the current law and deciding whether to drop, revise, or leave a section in place. The first draft consisted of revision based on the initial review. The draft of the new law was revised a couple times before being introduced in the legislature.
	In reviewing the law I found CSD's can provide all services that cities and counties provide and a few more. In some cases CSD's provide mail boxes and deliver mail. Some CSD's enforce CCR's, codes covenants and restrictions, often applied in new "master planned communities" to restrict residents from certain activities that will adversely affect property values. Other CSD's provide electricity and cable service. Still others maintain roads and open space or offer law enforcement. Most CSD's provide a combination of water, waste treatment, parks and fire services.
	Under the old law CSD's had active and latent powers. The latent powers were those services a district listed in its formation resolution that were not actively provided. Active and latent powers varied from one CSD to another. The new law included all powers that any of the CSD's in the state were exercising and called them authorized powers. According to the new law any of the authorized powers that were not exercised on January 1, 2006 are defined as latent powers.
	The current law required CSD's to get a vote of the residents in order to exercise one of their latent powers. That was because the old law was written before the Local Agency Formation Commissions (LAFCO) came into existence. Each county has a LAFCo. That agency determines boundaries for municipal service providers. The new law is consistent with current LAFCo law in that any CSD that wants to initiate a latent power must go through LAFCo.
	Usually when LAFCo reviews an application to exercise a latent power it must decide if the agency can provide the service. If two agencies are providing the service LAFCo then must determine which is able to provide more efficient and effective service.
	The new CSD law limits the decision process for LAFCo. The new law includes a section, proposed by the City of Elk Grove, that in the event a CSD wants to assume a latent power that provides substantially similar services that another municipal agency provides then LAFCo must deny the application. For example if the City of Dublin or San Ramon could not afford to provide park service in 2007 the Dublin Ramon Services District which used to provide park services could not step in to fill the void. While this may seem remote it is not uncommon. The City of Sacramento in the past and the City of Richmond at present cut funding to city parks during financially tight times. In the end the citizens could lose a valuable service.
	This section may be one of the quirks of the new law. On the other hand it provides a basis for similar legislation that precludes other service providers from taking on substantially similar services that a CSD provides.
	Elliot Mulberg is a long time Elk Grove resident and represents special districts on Sacramento LAFCo.
	The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent those of the Elk Grove Insider or any other entity.
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